RMU Shootings

Last week there were a bunch of coverage that dealt with a shooting at Robert Morris University. If you don't know that was the college I went to. It's frightening to know that the college I felt safe at had a shooting. From what I gathered two students were killed and one seriously injured. With stories like this: shootings in high schools and colleges, where can students feel safe? It seems like we can't even go to student for an education without wondering if someone will come in with a gun. I pray for the schools of this nation. I pray for our students and those who are thinking about harming our students.

I wonder what was going through the minds of the other students, friends, family, staff. I know if I was still at school many people here at home would be so worried. It's scary to think that if this happened a few years ago; I could have still been on campus. I pray for the families and friends of the students killed and the one injured. I also pray for the killer and his family. What would be going through their heads about what their son did? What could be going through HIS head knowing what he did.

I don't know the full story or why this man shot his fellow students. I know God knows what was going on inside his head and heart and will judge him justly. I pray that he seeks God's forgiveness and maybe one day the forgiveness of those he harmed. It makes me think of the story of the man who killed the children in the Amish school, and their parents forgave him, was at his funeral. It takes a lot of strength to one ask for forgiveness, and two give it lovingly the way the Amish families did. The Bible talks of asking for forgiveness, not just from God, but the ones who we have harmed: If you enter your place of worship and about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God. (Matthew 5:23-24).

I ask God to forgive this man. Forgive all those who are sitting at home judging him, hating him, and thinking other bad thoughts about him. Only God can know what went through his head. All we as a community can do is pray for him and all those involved.

Dignity and Honor

At the beginning of each chapter with the Purpose Driven Life are quotes from the Bible. After reading the first quote to chapter 19 really made me think. It comes from James 3:18 (it's a long one) = "You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor." Too often we see people putting each other down, spreading rumors, hurting each other, judging, looking down on each other. And we try to say we are Christians.

Todd was just telling me how annoyed he is sometimes when he is surrounded by gossip at work. I agree what if a customer or their family came in when someone is gossiping about them? Our church has just dealt with gossip and rumors and it still goes on with one family. What needs to be done is for us to stop talking about the issue at hand and move on. When the names of those involved come up I'm starting to say "I don't want to hear it." Because I don't. How could talking about someone help the situation any? It can't.

How can a church, small group or even work environment develop a good community and healthy atmosphere if we are constantly treating each other badly. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:3 You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together in this way. God wanted us to live in peace, so why can't we do it? Why can't we live together in peace with at least other Christians?

Fellowship

As I said before Todd and I have been reading "The Purpose Driven Life." I admit we got into a little bit of a slump after a while, but we started reading it again last night. The chapter we read was about fellowship. He said the term fellowship no longer has the meaning that it once did. Now when someones asks "Where do you fellowship" they are really asking "where do you go to church." And many times fellowship refers to a time of eating, and socializing. The Bible says we were designed to go through life together: Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. (Colossians 3:15.)

We are told that when two or more are gathered then God is in our midsts. Small groups are great for fellowship because it engages everyone involved where if it were a large group some people would back off and allow others to take control of the situation. With fellowship it's a time for us to be real with each other. It requires authenticity, mutuality, sympathy, and mercy. We need to be authentic about wanting to be with each other and get honest about things. We need to be mutual in depending on each other the Bible also tells us that The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part (1 Corinthians 12:25).

Sympathy is when we really feel the pain of those around us, not just giving them advice. We need to share, study the word, serve together and most importantly suffer with one another. Again the Bible tells us to be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Those characteristics describe Jesus, and since we are supposed to be like him...

Fellowship is not just spending time together and talking with each other. Its more about being honest and open about what we are dealing with. We need to get deep to the heart of the problem and share it with each other, we shouldn't be ashamed of what we are dealing with. Real fellowship is carrying each others' burdens and go through the hardships together.

Irrational Fears

Irrational fears, yes we all have them. But why? Why do we have all these irrational fears, even if they seem rational to us? I admit I have a few irrational fears about numerous different things. I have a fear of driving, and while those around me try to convince me it's irrational. To me it is for some odd reason. I've haven't gotten any reason other than a small accident my mom and I were in this winter, to justify my fear. It is partly because of this fear that I don't drive.

We tend to let our fears to overcome the things we do want. I want to drive, I want to be able to go where I want, such as to see Todd instead of him having to drive here all the time. I who have a dear friend who has a fear of getting remarried. He is in his later 30's, and has two kids. I understand his fears and see why he justifies them, but at the same time I wonder why let those fears come in the way of marring someone who he truly loves and truly loves him in return. (I hope he doesn't get mad at me for using him as an example too....)

There is so much in life that we experience and potentially lose out on because of our fears. Isn't one way to overcome fears to face your fears? Look at me I'm facing mine and going to drive, thankfully I feel more than safe with my teacher :) David writes in Psalm: I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me, freeing me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4) God didn't give us a heart of fear or a spirit of fear. So why do we still have them? Could it be Satan's way of stopping us from doing things that could empower us more? by giving me a fear of driving; i relay on people
to help me go where I want. I can't do some thing that I dream of doing.

The Bible has many different verses that talk about not having fear.

Isaiah 8:13 do not fear anything except the Lord Almighty. He alone is the Holy One. If you fear him, you need fear nothing else.


Psalm 27:3 ...My heart will know no fear.. (there are others around that but I left them out.)

Isaiah tells us to not fear anything except God, and David wrote that his heart with know no fear. If we are being told to fear nothing and not of have a heart of fear, why does fear seem to rule our lives? Why are we stuck to our irrational fears, or even our rational ones? Other than facing our fears head on how do we overcome them? One of the most obvious ways is of course to pray. We need to lean on God for help to overcome these fears so we can move on to something we hope for. Sometimes our fears won't be overcome if we don't face them and see. I know I had a fear of failing. Failing in everything I tried to do, so I didn't everything I wanted to. I succeeded in some, failed in others, but it was ok. I faced it. How can we get rid of fear of failure, driving, swimming, fear of anything unless we tried?

I know admitting that I have an irrational fear of driving helped me want to conquer it more. How bout you? How will you overcome your irrational fears?

Purgatory

The other night Todd and I were talking about various different things, and the idea of purgatory was one of them. The idea of purgatory really escapes me. According to Dante Aligeheri in his book Purgatorio, there are seven levels to purgatory (much like the circles of Hell he describes in the Inferno). While in purgatory one is able to ask God for forgiveness for their sins and move up a level until they finally reach paradisio: Heaven. From what I understand of the Catholic faith is the one can buy their family out of purgatory, or rather, buy their families forgiveness.

My idea is that when one accepts Jesus their name is in the Book of Life as the Bible says. So when they die it's either Heaven or Hell, not an in between. I mean once we accept Jesus we have forgiveness, we need to ask for it, but we are already forgiven. And I think that if we die before you are able to ask God's forgiveness for our sins he takes that in consideration (once we've accepted him already). I understand the idea of Purgatory, and forgiveness are hard things to think about and figure out. There are verses that Catholics think support the idea of purgatory, I forget them right now, but I don't think there is.

Its hard for me to comphrend some of the ideals around purgatory. I think it's because it's never been a part of what I have believed. I have always believed that once you accept Jesus you are in the Book of Life: hence in Heaven. I could be wrong, but that is how I always viewed it.

Wisdom verse Knowledge

The book of Proverbs is probably one of my favorites. There are so many verses within that book that makes a big difference in our walk with God. Proverbs 2:2-6 is probably one of my favorites. It talks about wisdom and knowledge. Many times we confuse the two. The verses say: making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Phew! that is a long passage, I think one of the longest that I have posted on here.

Wisdom: power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action.
Knowledge: all that has been perceived or grasped by the mind; learning; enlightenment.

Both of those definitions come from yourdictionary.com. As you can see there is a difference between being wise and being knowledgeable. We get understandging and knowledge of Godly things from Him. If we honor Him we have His protection and guidance. He guards the path we walk. And we should be seeking God's wisdom as treasure instead of the earthly wisdom we tend to strive for. Today we put too much emphasis on the worldly things instead of Godly wisdom.

To fear God is to seek his knowledge and understanding through everything we do. It would be more valuable than moeny or any treasure in this world. God treasure is so much better! King Solomon knew this when he asked God for wisdom to govern God's people over anything.

Witnessing

One of my favorite moments from YES camp this year didn't even happen when the campers were there. It was Friday night and a few of us staffers were sitting around this massive campfire. I was sitting back watching everyone else interact with each other. Eddie and Ginnie were discussing family reunions and Eddie was concerned that hers wouldn't have food. Kelli and Caitie were talking, Trevor was staring at the fire. Off a little ways away from the rest of us, but still close enough was Chris and another staff member. Chris was talking to the other staffer about salvation, and the end times. This is some serious stuff for young men to be discussing, but knowing Chris it just made more proud of who he is. But it still amazed me that these two teenagers were discussing salvation and the end times when they could have been doing anything else that they wanted to do. It gave me hope for the future and for teens not only in River of Life Fellowship, but also across the country.

God gave us the command that we go out into the world and spread the word of God. I don't think there is one right way to do it. I know people who just shove the gospel in your face, others let the light of God shine through their actions. And then there are those like Chris and myself that wait until the right time presents itself. Chris and this other staffer were talking about God and end times as if it were a part of their everyday conversations, and I think sometimes that how our witnessing should be. Not shoving the Word into our friends' faces or fighting with other people about what they believe but discussing it. Asking and answering questions of each other. Todd and I have those discussions all the time. In fact we had one just last night about end times and then purgatory. I may write about our purgatory discussion tomorrow. But anyway. Witnessing shouldn't be this hard thing to do. Shouldn't it be easy for us Christians to be able to talk to our peers about the love of Jesus the way Chris and his friend were?

Like I said before I learned more from observing things at camp than I did teaching. God gave me that opportunity to learn more and grow and that's what I did. After seeing Chris interact with his friend, I know that is one of the best ways to witness to people. That way people aren't uncomfortable about God and feel free to ask questions and state their own opinions without being afraid of what we would say to them. As I end this post I think back to high school chorus and we sang a song (of course right). I don't remember the name of it, but one part went: Go ye into all the world a preach the living gospel, go ye into all the world and preach the living gospel. It was one of my favorite songs, and it helps me remember the command from God. So Go ye into the world (or your world) and preach the gospel to those you met, but not in a judgmental way, but a way like Chris that makes people feel comfortable.

Peace

As many of you know I am writing a book. Part of my book talks about knowing that Jesus will always be there and clinging to the peace we can only get through Jesus. The peace that we get from Jesus is like nothing else. No one else can give us that peace. John 14:27 tells us this about Jesus' peace: I am leaving you with a gift -- a peace of mind and peace of heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. We get a special kind of peace from God.

From time to time Todd and I have taken walks in nature, at Ohiopyle or Mingo Park. While there we both get a feeling of peace and I think it's because we are right there in the beauty of God and one cannot deny to power of God when surrounded by nature. I know sometimes it's hard to feel the peace of Jesus at all times, but we always have and when we do we shouldn't worry or have fears. When we put total trust in God, our fears tend to fade and His peace enters.

Sometimes it seems to take everything within us to get that peace of mind and peace of heart when it comes to fears and feeling a sense of trouble. God wants us to have peace, and because of what Jesus did for us we have that peace.

Unity

The past week there has been a bit of drama within my church. There are people who are out to take our church and our pastor down. But one thing that those who want to harm us don't expect is the unity within our church. Churches need to stand as one and be unified.Ephesians 4:13 tells us "we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ." When we grow in God we measure up to what Christ has planned for us, we are able to be in a unity that God wants us to have. We cannot let people who try to bring us down succeed.

We are supposed to support one another and be unified and build a hedge when something terrible comes into the picture. We fasted some of the worst things said about our church board, pastor, and the church itself. We prayed together, held our arms out to those in need and pulled together to be one instead of a divided church. I am proud to say that The River Of Life Christian Fellowship can stand as one, and that the evildoers can't shake us. If anything it would just make us stand stronger.

A church shouldn't allow people to say things about them, yes many things we can ignore and let bypass us, but there are things we need to pray about and work to demolish. When a church is doing good and gaining power, Satan gets scared and tries to tear them down. Should we let them? Of course not! That is the true test of how strong a church is together. We past that first test, and I know there will be more, and I am sure we will handle it in the same manner and once again stand strong as one.

Man Sues Zondervan

Yes you read the title right: a man is suing Zondervan Publishing Company. When Todd told me this story I don't really believe it until I read it online today. A man named Bradley Fowler is suing the publishing company because of 1 Corinthians 6:9 which states: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit it kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexual immoral nor idolaters, adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders This man is saying because of that verse he has been made an outcast from his family. He is suing Zondervan for 60 million dollars! He doesn't want the verse taken out of the Bible, but for Zondervan to take responsibility because he says they printed it with malicious negligence.

If one person thinks he can sue the publishing company because of something it says, then we all could sue a company for something we may find offensive. Just because the Bible says something is a sin doesn't mean the company who publish it is being negligent or is trying to isolate someone. This man is also saying that this verse caused "me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence ... including murder. " Just because the Bible says something is a sin, doesn't mean it is promoting violence, hate, murder etc against someone who commits the sin, in fact we teach against that kind of thing. I think if this man has read the Bible in it's entirety he would see that.

Stories like this make me wonder what our world is coming too. This isn't what God had envisioned when he created the world.

J-O-Y

This past week I saw a huge difference between adult and children. Even teens. From what I hear the teens wanted another impromtu session of prayer so they could pray together. How often do we adults say "hey lets pray one more time before we leave"?

During one of the RWG's at camp the kids learned about sacrifice and what it means to sacrifice something for someone else. Georgine made a little memory thing: J-O-Y: Jesus Others You: to help the kids see what sacrifice is: putting others before yourself. When we had prayer afterwards Pastor Marvin asked if any of the kids wanted to do more for God, sacrifice more for God; all of their hands went up, and they didn't know who put them up cause their heads were bowed and eyes closed. Kids ages between 6 to 10 all wanted to be more for God; I was slightly amazed.

When Pastor Paul asked the same question in church barely anyone stood up and said they wanted to sacrifice more. Is it because they didn't want people to know they fall short? If that is the case; we all fall short of God's glory. Do they think they don't need to sacrifice more? I had a teacher who always said "there's room for improvement" and I think the same goes for sacrifice; there's always room to do more for God.

For many J-O-Y doesn't exist. They think Jesus Me Others is a good order for things, but really it's not. Some find it hard to put others before themselves, but what I saw in my kids were the exact opposite. Granted there were fights and misunderstandings but that always happens, sometimes alittle selfishness, but most of the time they were willing to anything for one another. Should we adults have the same outlook? Shouldn't we be willing to help anyone out in the name of Jesus? When we have clothes we don't wear, don't throw them away donate them to a local shelter or Goodwill. There is always something more we can do. More we can sacrifice.

Jesus In My Heart

Yesterday I mentioned how children are able to believe in God while adults sometimes find it hard. During Monday's RWG {Rapping With God} we did a puppet show: the puppet was Miss Molly. She was just a sock puppet, but the kids loved her. She had no eyes so Miss Georgine gave her some. Georgine moved from giving the puppet eyes to God giving us eyes to see the world differently. She also mentioned that we in fact don't need eyes to see Jesus; but that we see Jesus within our hearts.

The children ate it up. They loved knowing that they can see Jesus in their hearts and when we had a carnival the most popular wash off tattoo they wanted was one that said "I have Jesus in my heart." The kids weren't afraid to say they have Jesus in their hearts, but too often we adults are afraid to stand up and say "I am a Christian" Why? Just because we are worried about what others would say? Jesus is the one who gave sight to see Him, he gives us light in times of darkness, yet we aren't as quick to proclaim our love for him as my kids were.

One day we were at the lake and I was building a sand village with some of the boys. One young man: Daymon; spoke up and said our village needed a church he then proceeded to build one out of sand and a few rocks. Another little boy said our village needed YES Camp. My kids were hungry for a way to express their love for God, yet as adults we find it hard to even tell someone we believe in Jesus. I will be the first to admit I have a hard time witnessing to others, and I don't understand why especially after spending a week with kids who were so open about it.

I read a blog today "Wake Up and Do The Little Things" What I read was about us being treasures to God even though we are broken, sinful and so much more. God sees us as treasures: shouldn't we see Him as the same? Matthew 6:21 says Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. When we being seeing that God is a treasure and knowing that we can see Him no matter what then it just radiates from us and people can see God is in our hearts.

Children already know that they hold Jesus as a treasure and it show through our kids this past week. They were able to show the love of God because they openly held Him as a treasure and felt they had nothing to worry about. Should we adults be doing the same thing? Should see believe we can see Him in our hearts and hold Him as a treasure just as he does us?

Innocence of Children

Of course throughout the week we had to deal with different problems with our children. Things like name calling, hitting, one throwing stones or something, some getting hurt, but one major thing we had to deal with; well major for the kids; was when one didn't want to be friends with the other. One boy Michael May was so upset that Willie was mad at him, and he was crying because he said he said so many mean things to Willie and that he'd never forgive him. At dinner I sat with them and Michael said he was sorry and Willie said he still wanted to be his friend...later they shook hands and all was well. Why can we adults do that? Why is it that a simple I'm sorry doesn't work with us, the way it does children?

It seemed so simple to me when Michael was upset, say your sorry and Willie will definitely forgive him, but when someone hurts us adults do we forgive instantly? No. We hold on to that hurt and pain. We hold grudges and I know I talked about grudges a while ago, but it was brought to my eyes once more at camp. Willie didn't hold a grudge towards Michael because he said he didn't want to be friends. As soon as Michael said he was sorry all was well again. That is one thing that God wants us to think about and act when he tells us to be like children. They don't judge, they are quick to forgive, don't worry about tomorrow, most of all they put total trust in things they don't see: Santa, Tooth-fairy, Easter Bunny, and for many Jesus. Why do adults have a hard time accepting Jesus simply because we can't physically see him? I'll talk more on that subject tomorrow.

A few of our kids lost teeth during the week. We told them to take the tooth home and put it under their pillows because since cell phones didn't have service at Laurel Hills State Park the Tooth-fairy wouldn't be able to find us...they believed us! They thought that was good reasoning. Why is it so hard for us to think the same way a child would? We lost our innocence somewhere along the line and we need to get it back in a sense.

YES Camp

Well we are back from camp. What a week! I tell you I was so exhausted on Saturday, but you know what: it was well worth it. I learned so much and throughout the week I will be telling you of what I experienced. We were in the mountains where there was no television, no internet and almost all of the phones had no service so there was no calls or text messaging. All these kids had was each other and to learn about Jesus. We had two camps: Junior Camp and Senior Camp. We were combined at one site, but it worked out well. I was a cabin director at the jr. camp (ages 6 to 10).

First Y.E.S stands for Youth Experiencing Salvation. The kids had two services so to speak: RWG {rapping With God} and a chapel service along with cabin devotions. My part was to do the cabin devotions all week. As I said before I was way out of my comfort zone. Many of you reading know I have problems speaking in front of people even if it is young children. But I was able to do it with God's help. I was speaking his word and many times it was as if God was there helping me through it; especially in the beginning before I got used to my kids. Granted I haven't made it to where I want to be but I now know I can teach. Baby steps. Soon I will be able to be in front of a large crowd and not have a panic attack.

God sends things our way to teach us different things and to help us through something. YES Camp was his way of showing me I could do the things I never thought I could do. It helped me grow in my faith. God puts in positions where he knows we will learn, but many times we don't take the opportunity presented to us. I know plenty of people who didn't take this opportunity to be either a camper or staff and missed out on something wonderful. What opportunity are you missing? What are you passing up by not volunteering to do something even if it is helping in the nursery at church one Sunday? Are you going to keep passing up opportunities? How else do we grow in God if we don't do things like being a cabin director for a camp?

God's Glory

Since the weather has been quite favorable, Todd and I have been spending a lot of time outside, walking around Ohiopyle, Mingo Park and other places where we are in the middle of nature. The other day we had a talk about the beauty of nature. A couple leaves were blowing in the wind as if they were dancing. It was so beautiful. Our discussion progressed to the idea of druids, and how they worship nature to the extent of saying everything in nature is God.

While I don't agree that God is a tree or even a rock, his beauty and glory are in them. He created nature just as he created us, shouldn't we admire it and see his wonder within it? Have you sat a watched the sun set and wonder why each night the colors are different? Because God wants them to be different. To show us his glory within the sun setting. The same is with the trees and flowers. It still too a plan and a design to create tress and water.

I laughed at one point saying it was like God said "I want a tree here" and poof there is a tree. God has power and majesty and that shows in everything he created. See this eagle: it's a young bird but looks so powerful and full of God's glory. Watching it land and fan it's feathers out was so wonderful. It was awe-inspiring. I have to wonder why people would want to harm such a beautiful creation of God.

It is one thing to admire the beauty God has created for us, but another thing to sit and worship those same things. We can admire nature while we give glory to God saying "I see your power and glory. Only you could have created such beauty." Spend a day in nature somewhere, anywhere even just your own porch. Listen to what sitting in nature tells you about God. You just may find yourself talking to him as a long lost friend.

Purpose Driven Life

Todd and I have decided to go through the Purpose Driven Life together. We thought it would be not only a good way to grow closer to God and to each other, but it's a great way to keep God the center of our relationship along with going to Bible Study and doing our own studies. The Purpose Driven Life not only helps you find the purpose for your own life, but reminds you that we all have the same purpose: serving and worshiping God.

Rick Warren says so many things that makes a lot of sense. Right now Todd and I are in the section that talks about us being a part of God's family; the church. There is a reason we call our churches: our church family. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ yet we don't act like it. I am finding this section so interesting and real meaningful. The first one talked about remembering that God is the center of everything. It really does make you think, as does the questions at the end of each chapter. I have been writing down the questions and my answers on one of my other blogs. I may decided to post some here.

Reading Rick's book has made me really think about not just my relationship with God, but my relationship with other people. One of the things I wrote last week about taking a moral inventory was that I don't feel compassion for people sometimes and I really do need to change that. I need to support my brother man by showing compassion and not getting frustrated at times. How does not having compassion show God's love for us? Isn't part of being a Christian just that: showing compassion and God's love through our actions?

There is something in the 17th chapter that hit me last night when Todd and I was reading it, and it was "..God expects you to show other believers -- a willingness to love them in the same way Jesus loves you." Do we really do this? Do we really show a sacrifical love to other Christians?

Importance of Church

Church is such an important thing. I know there are many people who follow the idea that one does not need to go to church in order to worship God, and that's fine, but honestly are you worshiping God outside of church? And how do you find out your purpose for the Body of Christ if you are not a part of it? Rick Warren said "We need more than the Bible in order to grow, we need other believers. We grow faster and stronger by learning from each other and being accountable to each other." When I read that the other night it struck me. Of course we need more than the Bible to grow. How else do we get support and pray with others when we are in fellowship with them?

The Bible tells us "As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." There is nothing like being within the church and growing together and being healthy within our spiritual walk. As we do our own part through the church we grow and those who work with us grow. The same goes with us working with others. That is why I am helping at Y.E.S. Camp this week. I can grow as I work with Pastor Marvin and the kids. I step out of my comfort zone which we all need to do.

When we are in a church we are a part of a family of course. What would it be like if you stopped being with your family? I know at times we feel isolated and that when we do fellowship it seems forced; but at the same time God knows the sincerity of our hearts that we want to be in fellowship even if our feelings aren't the same. The more we spend in fellowship the more that feeling goes away.

Comfort Zones

This week I will be at a camp my church hosts called YES Camp. What it is is Y.outh E.xperiencing S.alvation. What we do is take children for a week long camping experience like most summer camps do. We will have games, crafts, swimming, and more. The camp is split into junior and senior camps. I will be a cabin director for the junior camp: the camp for children 6-10. I am excited yet scared at the same time: mainly because I will be stepping out of my comfort zone.

I think we are content in living in a comfort zone, but the problem is that when we are in these comfort zones we don't grow that much. We don't rely on God to help us through the scary moments. We stay kind of stagnent and we don't try to step out of that zone in order to grow closer to God. Whenever we do step out of that zone, we almost always will grow closer to God. He won't let us fall flat on our faces!

I am so excited that I am taking this chance and stepping out of my zone and doing something different. No matter what I do during the week I will grow closer to God while bringing children closer to God. When we cling to our comfort zones we cling to uncertainty. We think we know things are a certain way when they aren't because we don't put ourselves out there to be vulnerable to learn more about Jesus and what it means to trust him. So I am stepping out of my comfort zone. When will you step out of yours?